


Twilight Theater

by bluenna



Series: (S)wingset universe [2]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, and calum, ashton is having a crisis, because of flowers, ehehhehe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:24:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2240607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluenna/pseuds/bluenna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke laughs, the worry melting away from his face. Then he squints at something over Ashton's shoulder.</p><p>"Is that a flower?"</p><p>Ashton frowns and turns his head, freezing as a white gardenia brushes his mouth and nose.</p><p>"Shit."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twilight Theater

**Author's Note:**

> YESSSS ITS DONE i rewrote this like three times until it started going in the right direction
> 
> i hope you guy like it
> 
> jskjfkjsf

There's ketchup on Ashton's shirt. The red stain stands out on his white shirt like the sun on the sky, and he stares down at it accusingly, his feet dragging him away from the new hamburger place.

"You have got to be kidding me," he mutters as he stretches the shirt in front of him, trying to wipe the stain away with the will of his mind. No such thing happens, of course, because Ashton was not fortunate enough to be born with such an ability. Instead, he has the pleasure of pulling lilacs out of his ass - figuratively speaking.

He sighs and lets the shirt go, hoping no one he knows sees him until he gets home. The last thing he needs is his mom scolding at him because her friend had seen him out and about in dirty clothes. 

"Ashton?"

Ashton comes to halt and grimaces when he realizes who the voice belongs to; Luke is sitting on a bench just a few feet away from him, a shopping bag on his lap. Not that seeing Luke is bad, it's just. Ketschup. On Ashton's shirt. We have established that.

"Hey," Ashton greets him with a smile, making his way to sit next to Luke. "What's up?"

Luke shrugs. "Not much. I was shopping for groceries with my mom, but she forgot something and ran to get it. She told me to 'stay right where you are'," Luke's voice gets high pitched as he imitates his mom, "though I don't know why she still thinks I'll get lost. We've lived here for a month now."

Ashton grins. "You got lost last week on your way to my place."

"That's different."

Ashton doesn't know how - it takes like ten minutes to walk from Luke's place to Ashton's -, but he decides to let it go.

"Hey," Luke changes the subject, his tone turning eager, "so, Michael says that you play drums."

"Uh-huh."

Luke smiles. "Right, he also said Calum is pretty good with a bass, and you know, Michael and I both play guitars, and like, maybe we should start a band."

Well, shit. Why the hell has Ashton never thought of that?

"That's actually a good idea."

Luke laughs. "I know right? We haven't talked to Calum yet, you think he'd be up for it?"

Ashton sends him a look. "Calum has a basement full of instruments he likes to stare at when he's alone." The second part is probably not true, but Ashton finds amusement in the possibility.

"Maybe we could try them out later? I mean, you're still on for tonight?"

Please, Ashton's been on for the weekly movie nights since he was born. "Yeah, of course."

"Great," Luke says. His smile fades after a moment and he leans towards Ashton like he wants to share a secret. "Listen, do you think maybe Calum doesn't like me?"

Ashton stares at him with surprise. "Why'd you think that?"

Luke shrugs. "He doesn't talk to me that much. Michael thinks I'm being stupid, but he also thinks white chocolate tastes bad, so I don't know."

"Yeah, no, he likes you," Ashton assures him. "He has his own seasons, like sometimes he's really quiet and sometimes you can't get him to shut up. If you listen closely you can hear him humming 'let it snow' and that's all the noise he does."

Luke laughs, the worry melting away from his face. Then he squints at something over Ashton's shoulder.

"Is that a flower?"

Ashton frowns and turns his head, freezing as a white gardenia brushes his mouth and nose.

"Shit."

The thing is growing out of his shirt, peeking from under the collar, and Ashton swats at it, standing up to throw it on the ground and stomp on it.

"You have another in your hair," Luke points out, puzzled.

Ashton ruffles his hair, and stares at the falling flower in panic.

This can't be happening, he thinks. This is not happening.

He turns to look at Luke, stares at him for a moment, then sighs in relief. He's not crushing on Luke, thank fucking god, that would be disasterous. He was probably just thinking about something. 

Something, something, some-

"Shit," he repeats.

Calum.

"Ashton?"

"I need to go."

He leaves Luke sitting alone in confusion and jogs home, striped carnations trailing after him.

\--

Ashton is panicking.

He has knows calum for how long? Almost ten years, that's a long time. He surely would've noticed if he liked Calum, there must be a mistake, his body is just messing with him, he can't actually like Calum, that would be ridiculous.

He crashes onto his bed and buries his face into a pillow.

It's Calum for god's sake. He likes pineapple on his pizza and goes for runs for fun. That's not normal. Ashton can't be into that. Not that there's anything wrong with Calum. He has a cute laugh and makes stupid jokes and listens when Ashton has something important to say and-

Something tickles Ashton's ear, and he ends up plucking an honest to god sunflower off himself. He throws it with force, but the flower ends up in the middle of the room, on the carpet where it stares at Ashton mockingly.

Ashton turns on his back, his arms thrown over his face, and whines.

"Everything's terrible," he moans, then stays there, hoping he could suddenly just stop breathing.

A few moments later there's a sound of a door opening and closing downstairs. Then loud steps make their way up and a very angry looking Michael barks into the room.

"Ashton!"

Ashton remains where he is. "What do you want?"

"Do you like my boyfriend?"

That gets Ashton's full attention. He raises his hands and stares at Michael, who looks ready to punch something. Someone. Possibly Ashton. Uh-oh.

"Oh, my god," Ashton says, sitting up. "No. No. Absolutely not."

Michael narrows his eyes at him. "Then why is Luke saying you started growing a garden while talking to him?"

Ashton grimaces. "It's not him, I swear, we we're just talking about someone and, I..."

"Who?" Michael crosses his arms, still looking a bit dubious. When Ashton says nothing, Michael's eyes widen. "Calum?"

Ashton groans, falls back onto the bed and throws his arms over his face again. "Kill me."

He feels the mattress dip as Michael comes sit next to him. "How long has this been going on? Why didn't you tell me?"

Ashton sighs. "Since I talked to Luke. And I was a bit busy after that."

They're silent for a moment before Michael speaks up, "You planning on doing something about it?"

"Mike," Ashton says, moving his other arm to glare to at the boy in question, "I have literally just found out I have a massive crush on my best friend, how about I get to deal with that before I settle any plans."

"I thought I was your best- all right, all right," Michael says when Ashton continues to glare at him. "Still, don't think he doesn't notice when you start popping violets and shit around him."

Ashton groans again and turns his back on Michael, banging his head against the wall in the process.

"Come on, it's not that bad."

"It is," Ashton insists.

"Okay. Well, you're still coming today, just saying."

Ashton grunts. He most certainly is not.

"Yes, you are," Michael says. Ashton feels as the other boy gets up from the bed. "And now I have to go tell Luke that I'm a sane person, who normally doesn't run out of the house in the middle of a conversation."

Ashton snorts and turns around so Michael can see the judgement on his face. "So you're gonna lie."

"Ha-ha." Michael goes to the door and opens it, but turns back to Ashton before he leaves. "Oh, and you have something on your shirt," he says, looking pointedly at the red stain on the shirt that Ashton totally forgot to change. Fuck.

"It's a fashion statement," Ashton offers weakly.

Michael snorts. "Right." He waves at Ashton and closes the door behind him.

\--

"That's kinda lame," Luke says. He's sat next to Michael on the couch of Calum's livingroom, staring at the spot in his arm where had ten seconds earlier been a scratch.

Ashton snorts. That's what he had thought when he'd find about Calum's thing. Up until he had gotten a papercut and Calum had swiped it away in a second like it was nothing.

Calum rolls his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I can't actually cure a lost arm or something big like that, but it's okay if you cut a piece of your finger off with a knife." He looks at Michael when he says this, and Luke turns to look at his boyfriend.

"That happened?"

Michael shrugs. "Wasn't that big of a deal."

Ashton barks a laugh. "You cried like a baby."

"I did not, shut up."

Calum shakes his head, and takes an album off one of the shelves beside the television. "Serious talk though, what are we watching?"

"What's next on the list?" Michael asks.

"There's no list," Ashton says, and walks over to Calum, ingnoring Michael's pained expression. "Just take the next one we haven't seen."

Calum wrinkles his nose. "Looks like a bad zombie movie though."

"Awesome," Luke says from couch, Michael nodding beside him.

Calum looks at Ashton, and when the boy shrugs, he sighs in defeat. "Fine. Let's waste our movie night on a bad movie."

\--

It's bad.

It's so bad that Ashton doesn't even feel like laughing. He's not even sure how they have been able to make such a thing. Have they no ambition? Self-respect? Clearly not. He spends half the movie throwing popcorn in Michael's hair and trying to catch the ones Michael throws at him with his mouth.

Luke's lounging on the couch, propped against Michael with his feet on Ashton's lap, and he seems to be the only one who actually watches the movie. Calum had given up after five minutes and started playing Candy Crush on his phone. He's seated on the floor, he's back touching Ashton's legs, and Ashton can see his lives are low from where he peeks at the screen.

"Send me a life," Calum says, not lifting his eyes from the screen. He makes a wrong move, and curses as a bomb goes off, ending his game.

"Nah. My phone's in the kitchen." 

"Go get it."

"Too lazy."

Calum turns his head, pouting, then starts batting his eyelashes at Ashton. "Please?"

Ashton blinks at him, feels something crawl underneath his shirt and scrambles up from the couch, startling Luke, and surprising Calum, who looks after him with brows raised as he disappears into the kitchen.

Once he's out of sight, Ashton pulls up his shirt and starts tearing at the web of pink roses from his shirt. He ignores the stinging of his palm where the thorns cut him, just stuffs the roses in the trash, so far down no one will see them. When he's done he leans against the kitchen counter and rest his head against one of the kitchen cabinets.

Is this honestly what his life will be? He's already so done.

"Ash?"

Oh, fuck, not now.

"Are you okay?" Calum asks, coming to stand next to him. 

"I'm fine."

"I don't mean to boss you around or anything if that's-"

Ashton shakes his head, his head still against the wooden cabinet, and runs a hand down his face, sighing.

"Shit, where did those come from?"

Ashton's forced to straighten up when Calum janks his hand towards himself, examining the cuts in his hands. Ashton's already starting to protest, trying to pull his hand back, when Calum goes to run his fingertips against his palm. The cuts disappear one after another, until his palm is smooth. Then Calum grabs his other hand and does the same for it too. Ashton stares at him helplessly, trying to resist the need to interwine their fingers together.

Calum looks up, a frown on his face and opens his mouth, before he closes it again. He reaches his arm up and snatches something from Ashton's hair. Ashton has no doubt of what it is. He closes his eyes and goes to cover his face with his hand before letting it fall, and deciding just face what's in front of him.

Calum's is staring at him with wide eyes, the pink rose between his fingers. His mouth is slightly open, and it worries Ashton so much that his first thought is to kiss him.

"I'm so sorry," is what he says instead.

When Calum just stands there, saying nothing, Ashton makes up his mind.

"Yeah, I'll just..." He looks at Calum apologetically, before he grabs his phone from the kitchen table and leaves, picking dead leaves off himself all he way home.

\--

The leaves are covering his bed. He tries to throw them out of the window, but they just keep coming, and Ashton's now even sure what that means, because they're not even flowers. In the end, he starts ignoring them, lying on his bed, eyes staring at the ceiling.

He should've known. This always happens. People are always put off by him, he doesn't know why, and he doesn't really care, except he never considered it would happen with his best friend. It shouldn't have happened. It's so stupid, this whole thing is fucking stupid, why couldn't he be able to do something cool, like put up fire with the snap of his fingers or change his appearance or something, why did it have to be this?

He pulls the covers over himself, not caring that he's still fully clothed and tries to go to sleep. The clock is probably nine or something, but Ashton could always use some sleep, so here he is. 

Of course he doesn't fall asleep. Not until it's two am and he's too tired to think anymore.

\--

Ashton wakes up to the feeling of someone poking him. He turns on his side and pulls the covers tighterover himself, hoping if he ignores the intruder long enough they'll go away.

"Ashton, wake up."

"No, I'm sleeping."

"Ashton."

"Go away, Calum."

He hears a distant huff, and then someone is taking the covers away from him, and whyyyy-

He opens his eyes and turns over, already reaching for what is rightfully his, when he freezes, his arm left hovering in the air. He looks up at Calum, who's looking at him, unimpressed, and sits up slowly. Calum throws the covers back at him, and Ashton holds onto them like they were precious to him.

"You left," Calum says after a moment of silence.

Ashton hugs the covers closer to his chest. "Yeah, well, considering the circumstances-"

"And what were those?" Calum asks, cutting Ashton off.

Rude.

"I didn't say I don't like you back," Calum continues.

"Yeah," Ashton says, "you didn't say anything."

Calum sighs, then crawls over to Ashton on the bed, settling so his sitting with his back against the wall. Ashton turns his head to look at him, although he's much rather run and jump out of the window, or something.

"I figured, since we've knows each other long, that you didn't like me. Cause you have a tell, you know." He smiles at Ashton and Ashton rolls his eyes, because, what's new. "So, it came as a surprise. And, I..."

Now it's Ashton's turn to interrupt. "Listen, it's fine. If you can ignore it, I can, and we can just go back to normal."

Calum frowns at him. "That's not-" he huffs, and lifts his hips up, pushing his hand in the pocket of his jeans, before pulling something out.

It's a red tulip.

A pretty rough looking, but still, a tulip.

Ashton stares at like it's about to grow legs and start dancing.

Calum holds the flower up, offering it to Ashton. "I stole it from our neighbours garden."

Ashton can't help the burst of laughter escaping him. "That old woman who always glares at us?"

Calum nods, grinning. He motions for Ashton to take, and when the other boy does, he clears his voice, looking uncertain. "I, uh, googled it. It means, um, declaration of love."

"Well, that's lame," Ashton says. 

Calum stares at him, brows raised, and oh. Oh. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"That's... that's... oh."

Calum starts laughing. Ashton swats at him, blushing. "Stop. You have no right to laugh at me."

Calum grins. "I have every right." He turns on his seat and reaches to tangle his hand in Ashton's hair, his eyes locked with Ashton's before he leans forward to kiss him soflty. Ashton sighs happily before pushing closer, his eyes closed. 

Neither of them notice the yellow tulips falling on the bed to accompany the red one.

**Author's Note:**

> Flowers and their meanings (I used on site so there's probably more to them but whatever) 
> 
> Gardenia - joy  
> Striped carnation - refusal   
> Sunflower - adoration  
> Pink rose - admiration  
> Dead leaves - sadness  
> Yellow tulip - hopelessly in love


End file.
